President Barack Obama issued a series of executive orders against Russian individuals and intelligence agencies on Thursday in retaliation for their efforts to influence and subvert November’s presidential election.

“Russia’s cyberactivities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in US democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the US government,” the statement said. “These actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

Beyond these sanctions, the Obama administration has also ordered the expulsion of thirty-five Russian diplomats and the closing of two Russian compounds on U.S. soil. Although a part of a separate statement, these orders also pertain directly to Russian hacking, as well as what the White House has called “a campaign of intimidation” against American diplomats.

“These actions were taken to respond to Russian harassment of American diplomats and actions by the diplomats that we have assessed to be not consistent with diplomatic practice,” one White House official said.

The United States has complained on multiple occasions about Russian security agents and traffic police harassing American diplomats in the Russian capital, prompting U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, to bring up his concerns to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov in the past.

“By imposing costs on the Russian diplomats in the United States, by denying them access to the two facilities, we hope the Russian government reevaluates its own actions, which have impeded the ability and safety of our own embassy personnel in Russia,” the official said.

The two compounds that will be closed, located in New York and Maryland, were reportedly used for Russian intelligence gathering, according to the White House’s statement. The officials listed in the president’s executive order will be given seventy-two hours to depart the United States and access to the closed facilities will be terminated for all Russian officials at noon on Friday.

These actions, though expansive and unprecedented, do not account for the entirety of Obama’s planned reprisals for Russian interference in the election. President Obama hinted at the possibility of further, more discreet, actions to be taken by the United States.

“These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia’s aggressive activities,” Obama said. “We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized.”

Russia has denied any role in the hacking of former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s private e-mails, as well as other activities American intelligence agencies suggest were intended to undermine American confidence in the election process or the Democratic candidate.

“Frankly speaking, we are tired of lies about Russian hackers that continue to be spread in the United States from the very top,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, in a prepared statement on Wednesday.

“These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior,” Obama said in his statement on Thursday.

The list of people and agencies named in the executive order include the GRU and FSB, both Russian intelligence services, as well as four individual officers within the GRU, three companies that provided material support to GRU operations, and two Russian individuals that are accused of misappropriating funds and personally identifying information on the GRU’s behalf.

This is the first time individuals involved with the Russian hacking scandal have been publicly named by American officials.

President Elect Donald Trump is poised to take office on January 20th. He and his team have repeatedly underplayed the significance of Russian involvement in his victory over Hillary Clinton last November, and Trump himself is noted for having good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many were already wondering if existing sanctions put in place on Russia as a result of its military annexation of Crimea in 2014 would stand under a Trump presidency, and these new executive orders could also be overturned once he takes office next month.

About the Author

About Alex Hollings

Alex Hollings writes on a breadth of subjects ranging from fitness to foreign policy, all presented through the lens of his experiences as a U.S. Marine, athlete and scholar. A football player, rugby player and fighter, Hollings has spent the better part of his adult life competing in some of the most physically demanding sports on the planet. Hollings possesses a master's degree in communications from Southern New Hampshire University, as well as a bachelor's degree in Corporate and Organizational Communications from Framingham State University.

BECAUSE, FACTS DON'T TAKE SIDES

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joesig_lives!

Comrade Dan: you promise? Really? I will do my best to stay at 11 feet, just to stay safe.
LPD and I are virtual friends, and a beer is waiting for the day it stops being only virtual. He can handle it, and more, and we enjoy our exchanges. Perhaps you should put your big boy pants on? After they've been washed, and sanitized, I mean.
I will dash off a letter to the IC and inform them that Comrade Dan has not been shown sufficient evidence to alter his Putin boy crush, and that you have, in fact, been let down in the past. I'm sure the devastation at Langley, Bolling, Meade, and the Hoover Building will be complete. Perhaps they will declassify the detailed findings to better serve you and the rest of the Putin Apologists. I'd mention that John McCain, while not a friend of the current administration, has somehow found the classified version of the evidence convincing, but I understand you require more personal attention. As the song say, Breaking Up is Hard To Do.

VeteranDan

Yawn.... here we go again. I find it hilarious that you mock me because I enlisted and served my country honorably. A veteran is never referred to as a comrade. I promise if you were within ten feet of me you wouldn't have the guts to say it. I would be accepting your apology. Conduct some research involving information on surnames from the middle ages.
You jump on people at SOFREP like LPD for voicing their opinion... and then stating concepts that you have no idea about. You call a majority of the readers of SOFREP comrades because they don't buy in to your two option theorem that you rip off the MSM. You try to appear smart as if a mathematician and deflect again... again... and again. I don't hide from fools like you, I just ignore them. There are many like you on the web.
I hope you find peace in attempting to make everyone believe your MSM headline theories. There is yet to be any concrete evidence that Russia wanted to support Trump and thus acted covertly to make it happen. You trust the IC... good for you. I don't live the simple life of luxury where everything is simple. I have received bad intelligence data several times while on active duty. As a veteran and FLEO I have received bad intelligence on several occasions.
You bore me. Goodbye.

Susan H

Thanks for your reply, Joesig. I had to laugh at " If Susan H is competing for a job against Joe Sig..." You'd win hands down, mate; I'm definitely not in the same league as you! You're much smarter than I am, not to mention bucket loads of experience and skills that I can't even begin to imagine. We'll have to agree to disagree on some points, JoeSig but I appreciate the way you make us all think. Do you think you'll be at the SOFREP party at the SHOT Show in January 2018? Would love to say hello and have a chat.
Thanks again for your reply, JoeSig and take care.

joesig_lives!

Comrade Dan--thank you for making me go back and re-read the various definitions of Occam's Razor, and a little more on the history of the man: it's certainly possible that I was mistaken, and you might actually know a few things, being a 9/11 veteran and all.
Nope. Turns out you're wrong. About everything. And Occam wrote in Latin, hence Occam's Razor when citing his writing and philosophy, as opposed to the village of Ockham, where he's from.
Why did Putin and the FSB support Trump? The simplest explanation, with the fewest assumptions, (hence Occam's Razor) is that they see significant advantages for Russia with a Trump presidency. So, let's hear your learned explanation of either why the IC is wrong or why indeed the FSB and Putin wanted a Trump presidency.
Looking forward to your learned explanation. You can run, and call names, but you can't hide.

joesig_lives!

Susan--thank you for your kind words, and your affection for the US. You are not challenging me, or the current administration, you are challenging the collective judgment of the IC. ADM Rogers of the NSA. Comey of FBI. CIA. If you have authoritative people to cite who believe differently....cite them.
A neutral reader of the comments on this site would conclude it is pro-Putin, pro-FSB. Find a neutral reader, and conduct the experiment yourself.
The Rule of Bureaucracy is that the level above you is dumb, the level below you is lazy, and it shifts as you change levels. My email, your email, everyone's email is replete with comments reflecting that. Private comments. My boss is dumb and clueless. My subordinates are lazy. If Susan H is competing for a job against Joe Sig, and someone hacks my email in an effort to embarrass me, they'll find plenty to embarrass me. The fact that they chose not to hack your email, or after hacking chose not to release it, tells you they wanted you to win. The question is why, not whether or not my emails are embarrassing. Yours probably are too, but they've remained a secret.
Why did Putin and the FSB want Trump to win? Answer that question for me, instead of attempting to discredit the administration and the IC and senior GOP leaders like John McCain.

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